Steering clear of BPA

If you'd like to avoid bisphenol A, as environmental biologist Retha Newbold advises women with a family history of cancer or those of childbearing age to do, try these tips.

Sip from stainless steel or glass, which do not contain BPA. Some plastics do and it’s not easy to tell which ones. If you use plastic, avoid any with 7 in the recycling triangle on the bottom. These codes were never meant to indicate the presence of BPA and so are not foolproof guides, but numbers 1 through 6 are less likely to contain the chemical.

Nuke food in ceramic or glass. High temperatures
make BPA in plastic containers more likely to leach. Avoid putting plastics (polycarbonate especially) in the dishwasher.

Stick to fresh or frozen foods. Most cans are lined with BPA-epoxy liner. Of foods tested, the highest levels of BPA were in pasta, vegetables and soups. But many haven’t been tested.

Demand BPA-free cans, as advocate John Peterson Myers advises. Eden Foods in Michigan uses BPA-free cans for all low-acid foods. They cannot be used for acidic items such as tomatoes, however, so stick
to glass jars for foods like that.